The following three items give a general description of portions of the invention:
(1) D.W. Graul (one of the instant inventors), oral presentation accompanied by a posterboard display before the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan at its International Symposium on Remote Sensing of the Environment, Oct. 21, 1985; (2) "New GOES to Sharpen Severe Weather Tracking", Aviation Week and Space Technology, Dec. 23, 1985; and (3) A. Schwalb, "Envirosat-2000 Report; GOES-Next Overview", National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, September, 1985 (pages 25, 26, 28, 32, 35, 36).
P.D. Landecker, "Operational Spacecraft Attitude Determination Using Data from a Spinning Sensor", Journal of Astronautical Sciences, Vol. 32, No. 2, April-June 1984, pp. 189-198, discusses attitude determination of a spin stabilized satellite using star sensing.
Secondary references are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,223,777; 3,676,581; 3,716,669; 3,769,710; 3,859,460; 3,952,151; 4,012,018; and 4,300,159.